The weblog of Irfan Yusuf, bush lawyer, humorist and award-winning author, once a small-c conservative but now politically left right out. His often irreverent take on things appears in some newspapers in Australia and New Zealand and online. His comic memoir "Once Were Radicals: My Years As A Teenage Islamo-fascist" was published in May 2009 and won the Iremonger Award for Public Issues Writing.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

COMMENT: Defaming the Defaming and the Defamed

Defamation law is one of the more esoteric areas of law, full of exceptions and controversies and nooks and crannies that can delight students and enrich barristers.

And if threats of “legal action” made by Liberal MLC David Clarke are to be taken seriously, it appears I will need to brush up on my knowledge of defamation law quite soon.

I admire Mr Clarke for his guts in dealing with the matter. Unlike his factional ally, Bronwyn Bishop, Mr Clarke has not chosen to hide behind Parliamentary Privilege to respond to my comments. Further, he has not accused me of being a terrorist or a bomb-thrower as Mrs Bishop has done.

In Mrs Bishop’s case, I acknowledge that I have been very much a bomb-thrower. However, virtually all the bombs I have thrown have been against the Left faction of the NSW Liberals known as “the Group”. Mrs Bishop has been a beneficiary of my actions, and has even endorsed these actions.

Part of my collection of weapons of mass political destruction was a conservative youth magazine entitled pro-Action. Mrs Bishop permitted me to reproduce a speech given by her in the ANZAC Day edition of the magazine. I would be happy to show copies of the magazine to any journalist.

Further, I distinctly recall Mr Clarke being a huge fan of the magazine. No doubt, should the matter reach court, Mr Clarke will need to swear on the Bible before he dares contradict my version of events in this regard. Indeed, Mr Clarke did express some reservations concerning the magazine, one of which concerned my criticism of Pauline Hanson and her policies on racial and immigration issues.

On Wednesday 7 September 2005, Mr Clarke was interviewed by ABC reporter Alison Caldwell. Mr Clarke described me as having ...

... a very colourful and interesting background.

Given the role Mr Clarke’s staffer Alex Hawke played in the defamation of myself and other members of the Centrist strain of the non-Group faction, I am not surprised in the description of my background.

Indeed, the role Mr Clarke has played in the development of my background is a matter which perhaps Mr Clarke is somewhat uncomfortable with. Mr Clarke is aware of the key role I played in the non-Group faction. He knows that his ascension to the Upper House of the NSW Parliament is the result of the efforts of numerous people whom his staffer had defamed and politically “stabbed” during the years leading upto his ascension to the Presidency of the NSW Young Liberal Movement.

Mr Clarke is aware of my role in ensuring key reforms to the NSW Liberal Party’s constitution were successfully resisted. He is aware of my attendances at virtually all factional meetings of the NSW non-Group forces. He is also aware that my own branch hosted many of these meetings at the Lithuanian Club in Bankstown.

If my background is colourful and interesting, it is because of the key role Mr Clarke played as a political elder and mentor.

I have no problem with Mr Clarke personally. But I do have a problem with some of the sentiments he has expressed in some of his Parliamentary speeches. I have a problem with his comments on a range of issues, and I am concerned that his own staffer is telling journalists that Muslim Australians like myself do not belong in this country and need to assimilate more.

I have a problem with Mr Clarke and his allies seeking to marginalise myself and 300,000 other Muslim Australians together with countless thousands of people deemed to be Muslim because of their names and/or appearance.

If Mr Clarke is prepared to openly take the following steps:

*distance himself from the comments of Messrs Bishop & Panopoulos,*undertake to rein in his staffer’s racist comments to journalists, and*undertake never to make any anti-Semitic (be they anti-Jewish or anti-Muslim) remarks

Then I will give serious consideration to negotiating a resolution of any outstanding matters with Mr Clarke.

Mr Clarke needs to more closely monitor and supervise what his staffer is saying to media and members of the public. When Alex Hawke makes islamophobic remarks to journalists, these reflect on Mr Clarke himself. They also reflect on the Liberal Party and on Mr Howard.

More importantly, they create an environment where members of a community which has been at the heart of Australian life for more than 150 years are made to feel unwelcome and unwanted. When my Muslim background leads Mr Clarke and his staffer to suggest that I am not welcome in the Liberal Party, we have a serious crisis on our hands.

Mr Howard has gone out of his way to welcome people of all backgrounds and faiths into the broad church of the Liberal Party. He has also made Muslim organisational leaders key stakeholders in national security. Mr Howard understands that marginalising this faith community is adverse to the interests of national security.

I believe Mr Clarke more than likely agrees with Mr Howard’s sentiments. If that is, in fact, the case, Mr Clarke should openly repudiate the islamophobic comments made by his staffer to a number of journalists.

It is one thing to allegedly defame one Member of Parliament. It is another for that Member’s staffer and a President of the national youth wing of a major political party to defame and marginalise over 300,000 Australians. Mr Hawke’s group-defamation must be stopped and curtailed. Freedom of speech should not include freedom to incite hatred.

If Mr Clarke is serious about his claims to not being anti-Semitic, he must stop his staffer Alex Hawke from making public statements which offend and marginalise followers of a major Semitic faith in Australia. And Liberal leader Peter Debnam, whose seat of Vaucluse has a large Jewish community, cannot afford to be seen to be shielding anyone with anti-Semitic links.

19 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Irfan saw your 4 corners crap. You look and talk like a pompous Jabba the Hutt.You even smell bad on television. I guess your 'wife' didn't want to hang around to listen to your mad harangue against the entire world. I will order you 6 filthy kebabs. 3 for you to cram into your mouth for a quick snack. And the other 3 for you to shove up your other shithole. Dinner and Sex Irfan style. Congratulations on being the fattest slug on the Mossad payroll

"Women’s groups and progressive forces are getting behind me. Former foes are fast becoming friends"Actually no they aren't. Surely 'friend' means more than people with a spurious interest in your travails."I feel on top of the world"Only if you have gone manic and are an otherwise attention-seeking arrogant fool. Check out your mental health when it comes to relationships and Jasminder. A new intense pointless obsession bound to end in heartbreak is an indicator of depression."Why did you come to Sydney and work behind a bar?" You met a fucking barmaid. Jesus Christ."I am surrounded by attention but feel as lonely as ever." Listen to yourself you nut. Your entire series of rants is just a 5 year old wanting attention.

How fucking depressed are you? Old clinically depressed codgers in nursing homes brighten up considerably when asked about 'the war'. During 'the war' they were part of a community striving for a common purpose doing something important. That is how you sound when you talk about once being a 'factional warrior'. See a shrink and get a decent diet you fucking nutcase. You are seriously fucked up but I am sure you can get to a place you want to be with some actual help. And for God's sake let a shrink read your crap so as to better understand you and before you publish and before you worsen your legal position. You are such a headcase I just want to keep on kicking you in the face until your head is just a red and brown bloody turd. Get some help Irfan you stupid bitch.

Irfan you fuck-up. Order a double serving of reality with your next meal of grease and lard. Look deeply at your continuing attempts to reach martyrdom by maximising your own suffering at every opportunity (while even fighting a bullshit gallant battle on behalf of the dead Patrick) and furthermore pretending there is some sort of parallel with John Brogden. Next you'll be strapping some dynamite to your morbidly obese carcass and hoping to die while claiming to somehow help the Palestinians.

John Brogden was Australia's most consumate actor and conman who's main amusement in life was that he kept on getting away with it.

Until some proper journalism reveals the truth it is easy to accept that the only people gossiping about him were the variety of jealous and petty wannabes from the left-wing. I can accept that Brogden got so caught up in the act of being emotional and distraught that in a moment of trying to cause maximum hurt to the person who loved him most he managed to go a bit-over-the-top in his search for victimhood and theatre. It appears amazing how there was a conga line of rescuers. Of course if John Brogden is a successful sociopath then it's only a short pause to finalise the book deals and stack the pre-selection race against Bronwyn Bishop. Thanks for allowing me the chance to chuck in a nice head-fuck conspiracy theory for someone to run with.

Isn't cricket a game where you are supposed to bat for one side only?. So how can any bisexual leftwinger like your previous correspondent know much about what constitutes the game of cricket. I am offended that you have taken a perfectly noble word like 'decency'and then suggested that it has a place in politics. It never has. The only thing decent thing to do in politics is to make the effort to stop politician scum from rising to the top. When they do anything to curtail their full enjoyment of power by way of accident or disaster it is a service to the nation to stand on the sidelines applauding. Which is why it is perfectly acceptable to applaud a cricket LBW. Not to praise the bowler. Just to say 'thank God that arsehole has lost his wicket' and only a few more to go before everyone can go home and do something useful.

To all the anonymous cowards leaving pointless vulgarities - So this is what 'conservative' Libs employed as staffers on taxpayers' funds get up to, eh? At least have the cojones (look that word up, semi-literates) to leave your name if you're going to deposit your brain droppings, eh?Keep up the good work, Irfan, enlightening blog and enlightening thoughts.

"Next you'll be strapping some dynamite to your morbidly obese carcass and hoping to die while claiming to somehow help the Palestinians"

Obligatory suicide bomber comparison at a Muslim who has taken the trouble to share his reasonable thoughts on his faith. What a bunch of racist turds. Irfan, anymore of this racist shit gets your way, I advise you to try and track down the source and alert the press so they know what a bunch of bigots there are out there. This really angers me, and to think my taxes may be paying for a bunch of hypocritical 'Liberal' leeches who eventually spend their lives on the public teat kicking 'dole bludgers' while being recipients and proponents of crony capitalism.

I don't how why Jason Soon gets so angry about racism. It's not the fault of racists that Jason Soon is Chinese, can't drive a car properly and has an asian-sized penis. Shouldn't you be blaming your parents Jason. You say you are a Libertarian. Racists don't infringe upon your liberty.

BTW. I'll have Sweet and Sour Pork and some fried rice and if you don't like me you don't have to sell me the food. No Aussie dollar for you! You wantee money you makee Chinese food for me Jason. Or maybe I treat you the way Chinese treat Chinese and Tianamen Square your yellow arse. Understand engrish? Chop. Chop.

Funnily enough Irf is the only person who ever called us "cenrists". We used to call them that. Soft in the middle, no real ideaology, no substance. That's what we used to say. they called us Taliban, extremists, nut cases. All becuse we shared a common ideaology.

Ironic isn't it that Alex hawke only got the YL presidency in the first place because Vaucluse Young Liberals whose members are mostly jewish rolled over and defected from the Group.

Irf, you should know better than anyone that the likes of Hawke and co have interchangeable views on most things. That is the benefit of believeing nothing. Baptised as an Orthodox Christian and now he attehds Hillsong. Sorta says it all.

Oh and Irf, be careful about what you allege that people say about you. just saying it happened doesn't make it so.

And BTW, you weren't present at all meetings of the mainstream faction of the party. You weren't invited to most of them.

Yet another case of anonymous doing the conservative cause no good at all.

I object to irfan's use of conservative, and I object to his self serving examples to support his arguments, I object to his misuse of history, I especially object to his constant insinuations that either slap Christianity, the West or ironically, Israel. However, above all I object to the idiotic use of pathetically racist, anti-intellectual, nakedly insulting garbage dished out in these responses. The critics of the Irfan stance look like toothless, banjo playing, white trailer park trash who couldn't make it as an extra on Deliverance.

What a complete embarrassment to the conservative cause! I reject "anonymous" as a conservative. What a pointlessly, unconstructive angry person. Do the real conservatives a favour and shut up. You are making irfan into a hero, his points of view more credible, and his critics look stupid.

Your Anti-Asian comments are especially unhelpful. There is no substance to them, they are just insults. If you have a comment to make about Asians, think before you say it. Australia is not and should not be "Asian". Asian people should be required to assimilate like everybody else (and they do a pretty good job of it too). Your comments reflect nothing but mindless immature hatred and irrational nonsense. Develop a viewpoint and back it up with reasonable argument and facts.

I will gladly take up my viewpoints with anybody who disagrees with them - but I won't hit them with a wall of senseless abuse.

It would be a bit easier to follow if all the anonymous posters identified themselves separately. Such as signing off as 'Mr Anti-Irfan' or 'Bored Liberal' or 'Unemployed Staffer' etc in the same way 'Angry Libertarian' and a few others have. All in all what an entertaining lot of comments and I hope the thread doesn't die.

Irfan you are an idiot for trying to rewrite history to suit some agenda or assuage your political disappointment.

Help Mommy, there are Liberals! underneath my bed!!! (No, seriously, that's the name of the book...) Don't believe me? The dang thing's on Amazon, not some hippie-press bullcrap ;) Anyway, thought you might enjoy, pinko ;)